grillin usa: mid-america
my ambitions of rodgers and hammerstein folly have been crushed. i am living the steinbeck nightmare in midwest city, located just enough outside oklahoma city that a western sunset invites a view of a shadow-cast skyline, which my eastern facing king-sized room at the la quinta does not allow me to see. instead, i am greeted with a glorious view of the slightly pricier and therefore nicer holiday inn, a baptist church, and a desolate waffle house restaurant. to the north lay a 24-hour walmart, which i would have considered wandering through were it not about to start hailing in any minute.
with only two more stops on the grillin' usa tour, the honeymoon period of driving has naturally started to wear--and a bit quicker when faced with the harsh reality of mid-american emptiness. the open road has its charm until you hit the bates-esque motel you are to stay in that evening and feel a dreading sense of horror at the potential problems: lice, roaches, convicts you saw on america's most wanted eating lucky charms next to you at breakfast, etc. also, i suppose if this were an actual road trip as opposed to a business trip, driving would be more leisurely with boundless fun to be had from trying out crazy restaurants to exploring weird road stops and maybe getting a little shopping in (i still haven't scored any cowboy boots). not to mention that i miss everyone and have been sober for several days now, which brings me to a wonderful idea suggested by erica: let's do a power hour with all these shot glasses i've been picking up. i think i have three or four so far.
sunny skies in the bible belt meant everything was closed on sunday in memphis. faced with the choice of watching another three hours of kennedy documentaries or hanging out with corey's auntie shirley, i opted for the latter in hopes of a true memphian experience. auntie shirley and i watched a bill cosby stand up feature from the 70s, while i ate a plate of her homemade mac and cheese and chicken with a glass of iced tea and she worked on a quilt. during a commercial break, she explained to me that people come to memphis expecting to see something and that there really isn't anything there. could have fooled me!
meanwhile, corey was playing basketball somewhere with some of his former teammates. then, auntie shirley and i went to big lots, value city and the dollar general because she needed to find a shoe organizer that hung over the door. on the way, we passed a church that had paid over a million dollars to erect this giant statue of liberty holding a cross instead of a flame in front of it. i took a picture of it, but being that i'm too lazy to upload pics still, here is one i found on google:
later that evening, corey's cousin drove me past graceland. i'm happy i didn't get stuck going out that way so i would be forced to spend $28 to see it. i'm certainly not that big of an elvis fan.
today we left early and ended up going to the iron skillet restaurant, which is connected to a gas station in west memphis, arkansas. we got there just in time for the breakfast buffet to conveniently close on us, but i did manage to try biscuits and gravy for the first time. it was fucking repulsive. but, when in arkansas! on that note, arkansas has some really great postcards. most of them are of broken shacks and southern expressions. i suppose when your state looks like a shit hole, you have no choice but to have a sense of humor about it.
oklahoma is also a shithole, but has a slight upper hand to arkansas. also, oklahoma has way more casinos and native american reservations, many of which have casinos on them. the one thing i do like about both arkansas and oklahoma--and actually most of the states i've passed through--are the hills/mountains. i don't know why it's cooler, but driving past a place with a diverse terrain definitely makes driving seem slightly less monotonous than the drive to champaign, or worse, st. louis. another thing i've enjoyed is the weather. i think this trip has given me some kind of awakening. i've been able to stand outside without a jacket, bask in the sun and feel generally disconnected from everything. it's not quite the fun of a vacation, but it's definitely a really awesome escape.
anyway, tomorrow we demo and then we drive to tulsa. i don't know what's in tulsa, but hopefully cowboy boots makes the list. then, after our last demo, i have to transfer three times to get home. then, i don't know what to do with my life.
with only two more stops on the grillin' usa tour, the honeymoon period of driving has naturally started to wear--and a bit quicker when faced with the harsh reality of mid-american emptiness. the open road has its charm until you hit the bates-esque motel you are to stay in that evening and feel a dreading sense of horror at the potential problems: lice, roaches, convicts you saw on america's most wanted eating lucky charms next to you at breakfast, etc. also, i suppose if this were an actual road trip as opposed to a business trip, driving would be more leisurely with boundless fun to be had from trying out crazy restaurants to exploring weird road stops and maybe getting a little shopping in (i still haven't scored any cowboy boots). not to mention that i miss everyone and have been sober for several days now, which brings me to a wonderful idea suggested by erica: let's do a power hour with all these shot glasses i've been picking up. i think i have three or four so far.
sunny skies in the bible belt meant everything was closed on sunday in memphis. faced with the choice of watching another three hours of kennedy documentaries or hanging out with corey's auntie shirley, i opted for the latter in hopes of a true memphian experience. auntie shirley and i watched a bill cosby stand up feature from the 70s, while i ate a plate of her homemade mac and cheese and chicken with a glass of iced tea and she worked on a quilt. during a commercial break, she explained to me that people come to memphis expecting to see something and that there really isn't anything there. could have fooled me!
meanwhile, corey was playing basketball somewhere with some of his former teammates. then, auntie shirley and i went to big lots, value city and the dollar general because she needed to find a shoe organizer that hung over the door. on the way, we passed a church that had paid over a million dollars to erect this giant statue of liberty holding a cross instead of a flame in front of it. i took a picture of it, but being that i'm too lazy to upload pics still, here is one i found on google:
later that evening, corey's cousin drove me past graceland. i'm happy i didn't get stuck going out that way so i would be forced to spend $28 to see it. i'm certainly not that big of an elvis fan.
today we left early and ended up going to the iron skillet restaurant, which is connected to a gas station in west memphis, arkansas. we got there just in time for the breakfast buffet to conveniently close on us, but i did manage to try biscuits and gravy for the first time. it was fucking repulsive. but, when in arkansas! on that note, arkansas has some really great postcards. most of them are of broken shacks and southern expressions. i suppose when your state looks like a shit hole, you have no choice but to have a sense of humor about it.
oklahoma is also a shithole, but has a slight upper hand to arkansas. also, oklahoma has way more casinos and native american reservations, many of which have casinos on them. the one thing i do like about both arkansas and oklahoma--and actually most of the states i've passed through--are the hills/mountains. i don't know why it's cooler, but driving past a place with a diverse terrain definitely makes driving seem slightly less monotonous than the drive to champaign, or worse, st. louis. another thing i've enjoyed is the weather. i think this trip has given me some kind of awakening. i've been able to stand outside without a jacket, bask in the sun and feel generally disconnected from everything. it's not quite the fun of a vacation, but it's definitely a really awesome escape.
anyway, tomorrow we demo and then we drive to tulsa. i don't know what's in tulsa, but hopefully cowboy boots makes the list. then, after our last demo, i have to transfer three times to get home. then, i don't know what to do with my life.